At a Crossroads
by breakaway-republic
Summary: As preperations for Jim's 12th birthday are underway, Aisha finds herself facing an unexpected decision.


***Disclaimer. I don't own Outlaw Star...blah blah blah blah blah Sunrise blah blah freakin' blah Sotsu Agency blah blah blah shut the hell up already blah blah blah Bandai blah blah***   
  


Unbelievable. Another worknight had passed for Aisha as she sat down and looked at her hands. She didn't understand it: most bladed weapons couldn't even scratch her flesh, sub-sonic ammunition couldn't harm her, low-yield explosives hardly even phased her. So why was she so vulnerable to dishpan hands? 

As it turned out, she learned that she may not have to worry about washing dishes anymore. News had reached her in Heiphong that the officers on board the Orta Hone-Hone had been sacked and dismissed from their post for their failure to secure the Galactic Leiline. Although it wasn't the triumphant return to the Ctarl Ctarl empire she had hoped for, this meant that there was a chance that Aisha could be re-instated as Ambassador Plenipotentiary. Although she didn't consider herself the petty and vindictive type, there was a smile on her face as she imagined the same officers who watched her depart the ship at Blue Heaven with a sort of smug, quiet glee now knowing exactly how she felt. 

In front of her was an asac, an elaborate scrapbook that Ctarl Ctarl officers were sometimes encouraged to keep. It was supposed to chronicle nearly every aspect of a Ctarl Ctarl's life, for better or worse. The asac and a change of clothes were just about the only thing she had time to remove from her quarters on the Orta Hone-Hone before it left Blue Heaven. How long ago was that? she pondered. Only a few months gone by since her dismissal, but it seemed so much longer than that. This would be her first real chance to return home with her title restored. Possibly her only chance. 

There was a light creak as the door opened and Aisha looked up. Jim had walked in after putting his tools away for the night and headed straight for the fridge. 

"What are you doing up so late Jim?" Aisha asked as she got out of her chair. 

The boy jumped a bit and turned around as she spoke. "You scared me Aisha. I thought everybody was in bed". She got a good look at his face, which was streaked with grease and motor oil. 

"You're a mess. What have you been doing?" 

"Just working on my Ehefrau." he shrugged. 

Aisha looked down quizzically at her young friend before grabbing a damp towel. Jim thought maybe she had something important to tell him as she got down on her haunches and continued eyeing him, inches away from his face. Instead, she roughly grabbed his head with one hand and began wiping off the oil and grime with the wet towel. Jim protested vehemently, but couldn't break away. 

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" he yelped, clearly agitated. 

"Much better!" she beamed, looking Jim's spotless face. 

"Dammit Aisha, I'm not a kid. I can take care of myself you know." 

"You work too hard- you shouldn't even be up this late...." 

"I'm working on the Ehefrau because I want to." he said defensively as he reached past some of Gene's beer and poured himself a glass of milk. "It's my hobby." 

"You Terrans.....I'll never understand why you get so attached to your machines." 

"I don't expect you to understand. Sometimes I'm not exactly sure why myself...." he started to say as he noticed Aisha's scrapbook laying open on the table. 

"What's this?" he asked as he made his way over to the table. The album was open to a picture of Aisha a few years ago in one of her school uniforms. She had a nice figure even when the old photo was taken, and the uniform she was wearing highlighted it beautifully. Although she was smiling politely for the camera, there was a somewhat familiar, mischievous look in her eyes. On her left hand, she was wearing a thick leather glove and perched on her left arm was a very large and exotic-looking bird of prey. It looked almost like an barn owl, except it was nearly as tall as Aisha in the photograph and had the wingspan of a condor. 

"Whoa..." Jim heard himself say involuntarily. "That's beautiful". 

"Isn't he? That's a eria berra-berra, the most skilled bird of prey on the Ctarl Ctarl homeworld." Aisha said proudly. Jim bit his tongue and his cheeks began to turn pink. Aisha missed a rare opportunity to further embarrass Jim- she didn't realize it but he was talking about the picture of her, not the bird. 

"Was he your pet?" 

"No. My father was a researcher in the Biology Division at the Imperial Ctarl University" she sighed wistfully, her eyes locked on the image of the bird "sometimes he'd bring his work home with him." 

Jim looked down with admiration on the photograph as he took another sip. Looking back up at Aisha, it dawned on him for the first time that she must be very homesick. It seemed like she had a sheltered life as a child, but that didn't automatically mean she had a happy and fulfilling life. For some reason, he thought he should try his hand at cheering her up. 

"You look really cute there." he said, before smiling and adding "What went wrong?" 

Aisha scowled at him "Careful Jim. A young lad shouldn't be mocking a refined and mature woman such as yours truly. Keep it up, and I could arrange it so that you wind up as his dinner". Traces of a smile were on the corner of her mouth as she tapped her finger on the image of the bird and resumed going through the asac. On the next page, there was a beautifully rendered drawing of the bird that was perched on Aisha's arm, this time, it was perched on something else- its wings spread and getting ready to take off. The picture itself was drawn on a thin, flimsy sheet of paper, it's edges were already disintegrating. Soon enough, the whole thing would be gone. 

"What's that?" he asked 

"A drawing. I made it a long time ago." 

"You did that? I didn't know you could draw so well." 

"You never asked." 

Jim was looking over her shoulder, once in awhile getting an explanation of some of the items or pictures in there, such as an old family portrait or her cap from her graduation. By rights Jim should've been bored to death, but what he saw in the album answered a few questions about her past that he had been meaning to ask her. It dawned on him that when she was his age, she was undergoing training to be a Noble Lady, warrior, artist and scholar with little time for anything else. He was beginning to understand why she was so concerned about him working so hard and missing out on the remaining years of his youth. 

Aisha briskly skipped over a page that showed a male Ctarl Ctarl gleefully holding up a diploma while standing next to a very disappointed-looking Aisha. Jim saw that the photograph had been extensively drawn all over with a black marker and decided to keep quiet. 

"Wanna see some naked pictures of Aisha?" She suddenly asked Jim coyly. Just as his face was returning to it's normal color, he began blushing again and started stammering. 

She turned to the very beginning of the asac, and sure enough there were four pictures of Aisha as naked as the day she was born. The fact that the pictures were taken on the day she was born probably had something to do with it. Her mouth was open in all of the pictures, since she was crying. Knowing Aisha, Jim could only imagine that it was very loud. 

"Hey- You're so tiny!" he said, momentarily forgetting that even the Strongest Woman in the Universe was once a child herself. On the next page was a picture of Aisha during her first full moon- a tiny white tiger-wolf cub with it's eyes closed and ears folded down. 

Stifling a yawn, Aisha closed the book and pointed out how late it was. She somewhat dejectedly announced that she had a full day of waiting tables and doing dishes the following day. To Jim, she looked profoundly sad even though she was doing her best to hide it. That night, it seemed the only thing that was giving her comfort was memories of home. A knot formed in his stomach as he quietly began to wonder how much longer she would stay with them. 

** 

Nobody knew exactly when Jim Hawking was born, least of all Jim himself. Still, plans were underway for an impromptu birthday party. Since his actual date of birth was unknown, Gene long ago decided the anniversary of when they met would be as good a day as any. It had been nearly four years since they met, so that would make Jim 12 according to Gene's estimate. Back on Sentinel-3, his birthday was usually a low-key affair. A single cupcake with a candle in it, a deck of playing cards and some spending cash from Gene, free soft drinks all day from Clyde and a hug and kiss from Iris. This would actually be his first birthday away from Sentinel. 

Melfina was the one who told Aisha about this, even though she wasn't around for Jim's other birthdays herself. Aisha was a little bit intrigued. Birthdays, if they were celebrated at all in the Empire, were usually observed with a small, intimate feast of some sort. Giving out presents for the occasion was a foreign concept to her, but it sounded like a good idea. Mel wanted to know if Aisha could keep Jim busy for a few hours while they made preparations for Jim's party. Of course, she considered herself a highly adaptable Ctarl Ctarl and very much up to that particular task. She also had a few days left to shop around for a present. 

Nonetheless, the decision that Aisha was faced with weighed heavily on her for much of that week. Returning home was no guarantee that she would get her title back, but the odds were in her favor for a change. Maybe the upcoming festivities might help take her mind off of things and maybe unwind a little bit. 

She remembered Jim toiling late at night on Ehefrau and came up with what she thought would be the perfect gift idea for him. 

** 

"That'll be 1200 Wong." The clerk said as Aisha placed a new wrench set she had selected on the counter. However, she failed to notice the price tag. 

"Ngyaaa? How come they're so much?" Aisha asked the man. 

"Well" the old man started "these are the latest multi-purpose tools from Carver. It has every wrench head imaginable and you could use them just about anyplace- wether it's around the house or in deep space. They're fully warrantied." 

"But....but...." Aisha started to say. That's half the price for a 1st class berth on a one-way flight to the Empire, she told herself. "Can they be used for auto repair?" 

"Of course. You're a do-it-yourselfer, huh?" he asked. 

She absently nodded. She realized that sometimes it seemed that working on the Ehefrau seemed to be the only thing that kept Jim happy- or sane. Up until a few nights ago, she didn't think it meant that much to him. She also didn't want to give Jim substandard tools for that. Still, even in the best of times 1200 Wong was a lot of money. 

"Could you hold onto this for a few days?" she politely asked the clerk. Aisha was a little surprised at how calm she sounded. Not that long ago, she would've leapt up onto the counter and yelled at the old man for daring to gouge an immortal Ctarl Ctarl. 

"Sure- I'll go ahead and put it on layaway." 

Aisha nodded and quietly walked out of the store. 1200 wong? She shook her head in dismay. Maybe the Ctarl Ctarl weren't meant to exchange gifts. What a shame. It was such a good idea she had, too. 

** 

"Morning Jim." Aisha perkily said "You wanna go out and get a bite to eat?" 

On his birthday, Jim had been up long enough to take a shower and get dressed before making his way down to the kitchen. There, he found Aisha brewing a pot of coffee. 

"Where's Mel?" he asked, still hoping for a home-cooked meal that morning. 

"She said she wasn't feeling good, so we're on our own for breakfast." 

"She's not?" 

"How 'bout you and I go out and get something to eat? It'll be on me...." Aisha offered 

Jim balked. Wether it was intentional or not, whenever the two of them went out in public she almost always did something to embarrass him. However, all those years of living on a shoestring budget told him that he shouldn't turn down a free meal. 

They made their way to a little diner a few blocks down the street. Jim had some toast, juice and a blueberry muffin while Aisha had a plate full of waffles, french toast, an omelette, some steak, sausage and bacon. Jim watched Aisha make quick work of her breakfast with a mixture of fascination, disgust and envy, he was barely able to finish his toast and juice. If nothing else, she could never be accused of letting any food go to waste. 

"Can you actually taste what you're eating?" he asked 

"Of course!" she said as she unscrewed the cap on a bottle of Tabasco sauce on the table and took a healthy swig, emptying about half of it. "Back in the Empire, the food is supposed to feed billions of hungry Ctarl Ctarl. How it tastes isn't much of a concern, just as long as it has lots of calories and carbohydrates. You Terrans don't require nearly as many calories, which is why you have more variety in your diet compared to a Ctarl Ctarl. As much as I like Terran food, a typical serving is only one-third of what I need." 

"You sure know your food Aisha." Jim said with a hint of admiration. 

She smiled and nodded "Mmm-hmm. I had to do a presentation on food and rationing for my final year at the academy. It was half of my grade." 

Jim looked down at his muffin. For a moment, he thought it was a cupcake. 

"Today's my birthday..." he absent-mindedly announced. 

"It is...?" Aisha was doing her best to sound ignorant. She knew she shouldn't have hurried through her meal like that, but she couldn't help it. Silently, she wondered how the preparations at the offices were coming along. 

** 

The door to Starwind and Hawking opened up, catching Gene and Melfina putting the finishing touches on Jim's surprise party. 

Gene started to yell "Happy birth-" when Aisha pointed and let out a little shriek as part of the banner fell from the ceiling and drifted down on top of the lit candles, immediately bursting into flames. 

"SHIT!" Gene yelled as he tried pulling the flaming banner away from the cake and onto the floor. It was a rather comical sight to watch him try and stamp out the flames, and he barely avoided catching his pants leg on fire. Suzuka disappeared down the hall and reemerged shortly after with a fire extinguisher. There was a loud hiss, and the last of the flames died out as the smoke alarm started up. The alarm drowned out Jim's soft groan of dismay. 

"Ummm...." Mel said, looking down on the ornately decorated cake she had spent all morning preparing. "It's not too bad. Maybe if we eat around the ashes......" 

** 

Mel and Gene had given him a new palm-pilot for his birthday, which included a disk-player. Gene was anxious for Jim to try out one of the discs, which turned out to be a very raunchy bit of interactive hentai Gene had gotten just for this occasion. 

"Gene- you scumbag! You got that for yourself!" Jim yelled at him. 

"Hey now, what are you complaining about?" Gene said, not-so-gently elbowing Jim "now that you're getting older, I thought you could use some entertainment for real men." he handed Jim another disk. 

"This better not be more porn, you pervert...." 

"It's not! Trust me on this...." 

Melfina nodded her head in agreement. 

Clyde and Iris remembered Jim's birthday and Jim played a quick video message from the 2 of them on the new palm-pilot. They both wanted to know when Gene and Jim would be coming back to Sentinel and let Jim in particular know that they would always be welcome at Clyde's place. Suzuka gave him a white envelope with two 250 Wong bills enclosed. 

"You'll have to excuse the impersonal nature of your birthday gift...." Suzuka started to say. 

"Not at all, Suzuka." Jim reassured her. "I'll take this over porno discs any day." 

"Now James- that money is meant for you and you alone. I don't want to find out you've been using it for business related expenses....." 

"Right." 

Jim saved Aisha's present for last. As he hurriedly opened it up, he saw that it was a set of socket wrenches. Expensive, high quality socket wrenches from Carver that she brought on her meager waitress' salary. Wrenches that were exactly like the ones he already had out in the garage. He knew they weren't the very same set because in her haste to wrap up the present, there was still a price-tag from the little hardware store down the street stuck to the box. 

"Oh Aisha, I....." began to solemnly say. He was going to say "you shouldn't have", but he paused and looked at her from across the table. A huge grin was on her face, with a little fang protruding down from the top right corner of her mouth. How could she have known? It wasn't like she had the time to inventory his toolkit, he told himself. 

"You like 'em Jim? I remember you telling me how much you like to work on that car of yours, so I thought maybe you could use these." she proudly beamed. "I hope they're the right size and everything." 

"Of course they are." Jim said, looking at her again. He knew that she meant well and her heart was in the right place. Ignorance was bliss. He couldn't lie to her, but he figured it would be for the best if she wasn't told that she spent her hard-earned money on something he already had. "These are top-of-the line, Aisha. You really went all-out....." he said "Thanks". 

** 

After dinner, Aisha was up in her room. She pulled out the asac from underneath the bed and opened it up. Time had not been very kind to the drawing of the eria berra-berra bird that she was so proud of. It was starting to crack and fall apart. The photo of her and the bird weren't aging very well, either. However, she continued onto a blank page in the asac and unbuttoned a pouch on her uniform. Aisha gingerly pulled out a paper napkin and placed it in the album. On it, she had drawn a picture of Jim- clutching an old crescent wrench and with a somewhat confused look on his face. The picture was something she hastily completed during her 10-minute break while working at the resturant- she drew from memory and the napkin was the only paper available. It wasn't her best work by any means, but she had to admit it was a good likeness of what had to be her favorite subject. After securing the napkin into her asac, she found herself wondering why she had so attached to Jim. Back home, she never had a younger sibling she could alternately confide in and affectionately torment. They had been though some pretty close scrapes together. The others mostly valued Aisha for her strength, but Jim would often ask how she was doing, gladly making small talk with her and every now and then confiding in her. After being away from home for so long, Aisha really did appreciate that. She was debating wether or not she should show the cocktail napkin/drawing to him when she finally slid the asac under the bed. Later- she could always show it to him later. 

** 

The boy-genius was rather glumly looking at his new toolkit. 

"What's wrong Jim? Don't you like it?" Melfina quietly asked him, snapping him from his reverie. 

"Huh.....? No, that's not it at all...." he started to say. The two of them noticed Aisha heading downstairs and Jim remained silent until she opened up the door and stepped outside. As the door closed behind her, Jim turned to Melfina. 

"It's that I have the exact same set out in the garage." 

"Oh...are you going to tell Aisha?" 

"I should....." he started to say. He vividly remembered the big grin on her face as he unwrapped the gift- it was almost infectious. I should, but I don't want to. Reluctantly, he got up from the table. 

As he stepped outside, he saw that Aisha didn't go too far. She was leaning on the railing by the waterfront, watching one of the full moons rise. For once the boisterous, rowdy Ctarl Ctarl looked perfectly serene. Her braid and green scarf swayed gently in a dying nighttime breeze. Between the bright glowing moon, the lights of the city center shimmering in the distance, the luminous reflections on water's surface and the lone Ctarl Ctarl silently contemplating the scene around her, it was a beautiful sight. She wasn't the first Ctarl Ctarl Jim had seen- there were a few working odd jobs in the service industry on Sentinel he caught a glimpse of, but they were downright timid and dowdy compared to Aisha. Part of it was the way she carried herself, but there was also a certain unconventional symmetry that just seemed to compliment her. Reluctantly he stepped forward. He didn't want to interrupt Aisha's reverie, but there was something he felt compelled to ask her. 

As she looked down at her reflection in the water, she heard footsteps approaching from behind. Sure enough, Jim's face appeared just below her reflection on the water's surface. 

"You sure picked a nice night to have a birthday." she said, looking back up at the moon. 

"You're not going to turn into some vicious animal tonight, are you?" he asked half-seriously. 

"Depends- only if you keep me away from the rest of the cake." 

"Suzuka and Mel are hiding it as we speak; if we left it out, you'd have to fight the roaches for it." He climbed up on the railing so that he would be at roughly the same height as Aisha. "Will you be going home soon?" Jim heard himself ask. 

There was a moment of uneasy silence, and he quietly admonished himself for even bringing it up. The silence was broken as Aisha softly chuckled and he felt his hair being roughly tousled. 

"You think Aisha's been saving up for a berth on the next transport back to the Empire, huh? You're not rid of me that easy kiddo!". 

"Stop it!" Jim said, half-heartedly trying to pull away and sound annoyed at the same time. "Quit treating me like a kid!" 

Aisha was going to say that he was still a kid, but she knew that wasn't quite true any more. In just twelve Terran years, the "kid" next to her had managed his own business, crewed the first place Privateer ship in the Heiphong Space Race, journeyed to the fabled Galactic Leiline and seen more parts of the galaxy than most people twice his age could ever hope to. Physically he was still a child, but there was a wisdom beyond his years and Aisha knew this. Out of all the Terrans she had encountered, Jim's opinion was really the only one that mattered to her. Moreover, in the span of a few short months the boy had earned a place close to her warrior's heart. Partly because of her curt and brash treatment of her subordinates while she was Ambassador Plenipotentiary and partly because of the competitive nature of that job, there really wasn't any time or inclination to make friends while serving on the Orta Hone-Hone. Gene would only be nice to her as long as he felt her strength would be of some immediate use to him. Suzuka was pretty cordial with her much of the time- as cordial as a highly-trained and disciplined assassin could be. Still, she seemed so calculating, stand-offish and distant for much of the time. With Jim, she sensed no ulterior motives on his part. It seemed the only thing he really wanted from her was friendship and some words of encouragement every now and then. Aisha was more than a little bit bemused that the only true friend she made since graduating was a young Terran boy. The two of them continued watching the moonrise and the occasional skyward glimmer of a spaceship taking off. 

"Aisha?" 

"Yeah..." 

"That was a really nice wrench set that you for got me, but I was wondering. What do you want for your birthday?" 

Even if she wanted to go back, there was no way she could afford a ride after buying Jim's gift. She smiled and pondered his question for a moment. "We Ctarl Ctarls don't normally exchange gifts, even for birthdays. If you really want to know, I think another night like this would be nice." she looked up admiringly at the moon, the source of her power. 

"That's kinda beyond my control." he pointed out 

"Maybe a big picnic or a ride out in the country in your car once you get it running...." 

"Ehefrau is running fine- I want her to be running perfect before I start driving it around." 

"Well, you don't need to worry about it right now Jim. My birthday won't be coming up for almost another two years- I guess I should say two Terran years....." Aisha said, almost with a wink. She looked at the boy and watched as her last statement sank in. 

"Two years? That means by the time I'm 14, you'll still be only...." 

"Shhhh...." she gently placed a finger against his lips. "Don't you know it's impolite to ask a woman about her age?" 

"But..." he started to say. Aisha pressed her finger more firmly against his lips and Jim got the hint. 

"That's very sweet of you to ask, but today's your day Jim. Enjoy it". Jim felt her warm breath spill down his neck as she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. His eyes widened as he let out a startled, completely involuntary yelp and nearly stumbled backwards off the railing he was perched on. That took him completely by surprise, and he could already feel himself blushing. Indeed, his face seemed to be glowing a shade of almost luminous red that rivaled the full moon of the city lights in terms of brightness. 

"Wh-wh-what.... what was that for?" he stammered. 

"Don't be silly Jim, there's still a few minutes of your birthday left." She gently tapped his crimson-hued right cheek with her index finger. "Careful- some pilot might think you're a guide beacon and try landing on you!" she winked. Jim noticed that she had the same mischievous grin on her face as in the picture with her and the bird that caught his attention the other night. Without saying another word, she had let her young friend know that he was the reason for her staying. 

After a few more moments of awkward silence, Aisha leaned over and gave the beet-faced 12 year old boy genius another quick kiss, this time on his forehead. 

"Good night, Jim." she said as she turned and headed back into the shop. Deep down inside, she had made up her mind long ago to stay with Jim and the others, but she had questioned the wisdom of her decision. Their little chat that night put to rest any doubts she had. 

** 

Jim watched Aisha head inside before turning around and staring off at the skyline again. So many thoughts were swirling through his mind- trying to figure out what he and Gene were doing this time last year, wondering where he would be a year now, thinking about that girl on the space station with the two cats- he had already forgotten her name. Inevitably, his thoughts turned to Aisha. This time last week, he had no idea that she could draw. If her birthday was in 2 more years that would mean by the time she turned 19 according to her calendar, he would be......he tried doing the arithmetic, but gave up after a few moments. A picnic with her sounded nice, but he imagined that he would have to rent a trailer in order to bring along her share of the food. 

Among the confusing array of pre-adolescent thoughts, he came up with the perfect solution for the wrench set dilemma. Just keep his older set on the Outlaw Star and use the new ones Aisha gave him to work on the Ehefrau. The last seconds of his unofficial birthday ticked away, but Jim wasn't keeping track. He didn't even notice Aisha watching him from inside before heading upstairs. Instead, he was keeping his own vigil on the full moon and wondering how things could work out so perfectly sometimes. It was such a beautiful night. 


End file.
